As anyone who has seen Happiness will know, writer-director Todd Solondzs world is a very, very dark one. This sequel of sorts to Happiness with the same characters, all played by different actors is just as bleak, just as painful, just as excruciating as the 1998 film, but also just as strangely hilarious more so, in fact. That is Solondzs great strength, he can make even the most Spartan scene somehow funny, and there is some warmth for the characters buried in there somewhere.
In the story we find out what has become of the family from Happiness possibly the worlds most dysfunctional brood. Mum Trish (the great Allison Janney of West Wing fame) seems to have another chance at life, as she has moved to Florida and finally has a blind date with a man who seems normal (Lerner). However her kids arent having it so easy son Timmy is obsessed with both paedophiles and terrorists, constantly asking if they are the same thing. Sister Joy (Henderson) has married a hopeless case (Michael K Williams) and is visited by her former boyfriend, another lost cause. Helen (Ally Sheedy) has given up on poetry, now writes dreadful scripts for Hollywood, and lives in a huge, empty white house.
Meanwhile dad (a truly threatening Hinds) is released from jail after his paedophilia case, and he decides to go and find his family, possibly to ask for forgiveness, but even though he is on medication he is still haunted by visions of a child.
As sombre as the mood is, it is never depressing, as Solondz never forgets that his characters weird, sad or just plain bonkers as they are are human beings too. There is a lot of hand-holding going on, not all of it healing, but at least they are trying to connect. Trish and Harveys first blind date is a sweet, almost heartbreakingly fragile scene, yet typically, Solondz follows it up with a hilariously inappropriate scene where she tells her 12-year-old son how wet she was afterwards. Helen too raises a lot of laughs as a ditzy, painfully over-serious wordsmith, constantly moaning about her lot when in fact she has probably come out of it the most intact.
Even the father character, a man almost without a single redeeming characteristic, is made sympathetic, even in the films strangest sequence where he is pounced upon by Charlotte Rampling, a woman even colder and without feeling than he is.
Ultimately the story seems to be a plea for forgiveness, and that is where its heart lies. Whether or not you can take scene after scene of complete misunderstanding between family members is a personal choice, but Solondz somehow manages to pull it off. The performances are universally excellent throughout, and that helps, as does setting the story is an almost antiseptic, horribly bright Florida.
Overall Verdict: This is what US indie cinema does so well, and Solondz is right on top of his game.
Reviewer: Mike Martin